


worst kept secret on campus

by 5ataen



Series: a little secrecy never hurt anyone [3]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: 00line are VERY oblivious, Alternate Universe - College/University, Bang Chan is Whipped, Bang Chan is a Sweetheart, Boys In Love, Boys Kissing, Cuddling & Snuggling, Established Relationship, Fluff, Humor, Lee Felix (Stray Kids) is Whipped, Lee Felix (Stray Kids) is a Little Shit, M/M, Secret Relationship, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, again not really, ngl i cried a lil writing this bc it was so soft but also bc its so damn long
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:06:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25686274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/5ataen/pseuds/5ataen
Summary: Felix has always made it obvious that he was dating Chan. Really, he did. He just never said that he was dating 'Chan', he always said he was dating 'Chris'. He thinks anyone who knew them for longer than two weeks would be able to quickly successfully deduce that 'Chris' and 'Chan' was the same person.Turns out he was wrong, and some people were more oblivious than others.It just so happened that his new friends were the more oblivious ones.or, chanlix are a thing, theyhave beena thing, and it's not a secret. the rest of 00line are just idiots, but they do find out, eventually.russiantranslationnow available!
Relationships: Bang Chan/Lee Felix
Series: a little secrecy never hurt anyone [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1841809
Comments: 24
Kudos: 399





	worst kept secret on campus

**Author's Note:**

> see series notes for notes on where this universe is set.
> 
> for visualisation purposes, the songs 3racha and danceracha will be performing at the showcase are we go and wow.
> 
> jeongin is still not in this i'm sorry :(
> 
> finally, i hope you enjoy this piece and i hope you finish this story with a light heart :)

“Hey, have you found someone to work with for the joint project yet?” Jisung asked no one in particular as he, Felix, Hyunjin, and Seungmin played Mario Kart on Felix’s Switch in Felix and Jisung’s dorm room. They were all sat on the floor, the Switch placed on Jisung’s bed.

Midterms were coming soon, and the studying was slowly turning them all insane. Being a freshman meant that all of them were taking some general classes, classes that everyone had to take no matter what degree they were taking, and those classes were honestly just driving them mad with all the studying they had to do. Felix and Hyunjin had to take Anatomy 101, for Christ’s sake.

“Yeah, of course. I’m with Hyunjinnie and Minho hyung.” Felix replied, furiously mashing buttons. Hyunjin hummed noncommittedly from beside him, focusing on the game.

The joint project was the university’s art department tradition; a collaboration project between the freshmen and the older students. All majors required their freshmen to go through the project, and it was actually one of their more important grades for the first semester no matter. The project required a group of three, with at least one upperclassman. It didn’t matter if it was a sophomore, junior, or senior. The freshmen were free to choose who they wanted to work with, if they already had any existing ties. Otherwise the professors would randomly group them.

For the freshmen, it was a great opportunity to make acquaintances with their seniors, so that they had sort of mentors to turn to if they required help throughout their years in the university. For the upperclassmen, it was a chance for them to show off their work and skill because the best ones were automatically chosen to be performed in the school’s annual performing arts showcase.

The showcase was a long-standing event that the school had held for years, and with its years it became well-known to attract industry professionals. Performance spots were open to the whole university, but out of the usual 20 spots, 5 spots were set aside for the joint project teams, and 10 spots were set aside for individuals and teams comprised of solely Arts students. If you were to ask less than interested individuals, the showcase was a glorified 2-hour talent show. But for the Arts students, specially the performance arts ones, it was one of the best opportunities to get scouted and be offered jobs. Which was why it attracted virtually every student in the Arts department.

The professors had told them about the project at the start of the semester, to give them time to both look for groupmates and actually work on the project before submissions were due on the Friday of the first week of their summer vacation. Performances were chosen and finalised the next Friday, rehearsals started on the Monday after, and finally the showcase was usually held within the last week of summer vacation.

All teams were free to create whatever they wanted, as long as it had something to do with their major. Felix has had his project team set ever since the third week of school. On his first studio class, their professor already briefed them on the project. Before their professor could even complete what she was saying, Felix and Hyunjin were already looking at each other like two excited elementary school best friends teaming up for a school project.

And then, Minho was the easy choice, an easy connection that was one of the many privileges that came with being Chan’s boyfriend. Felix had to talk Hyunjin into teaming up with the junior, though. He had said he found Minho slightly intimidating, so Felix allowed Hyunjin to familiarise himself with Minho first before he asked him to team up with them. Thank god the group of seven managed to hang out more than enough times in a week. By the third week of school, the two freshmen had asked Minho to team up with them, and the junior ‘begrudgingly’ said yes.

“Yeah, I found someone too. A senior named Seokmin and another freshman named Lia.” Seungmin replied as he too furiously mashed buttons.

A tense silence settled in the room; the four freshmen focused on trying to win. Felix was currently in first place, following by Seungmin, Hyunjin, and finally Jisung.

Felix let out a “yes!” when he got the red shell power up. Felix was already winning, but a red shell is a red shell. Felix immediately hurled the red shell out, making it cruise around the map. Seungmin and Hyunjin managed to somewhat easily dodge it, but Jisung shrieked when he saw the red shell coming at him, knowing he was the very unwitting target. It hit his cart dead-on, and Jisung fake cried as Felix went on to happily win the round, cheering all along as he did so.

“That was so mean! You were already in first place!” Jisung whined, collapsing onto the floor and wiggling around the limited space, and the other three only laughed harder.

“It is what it is, Jisungie, I don’t choose who the red shell goes after.” Felix teased.

“Anyway, why did you ask?” Seungmin asked, referring to Jisung’s question before they got carried away with the game. Jisung was now laying down face-down on the floor, his ‘wallowing in despair’ position.

“I haven’t found anyone yet. I’m not too fond of the prospect of having to work with complete strangers and all the anxieties that come with it.” Jisung replied, a little muffled.

“Hmm?” Felix hummed in question as he tilted in his head, confused. “Changbin hyung and Channie hyung are literally right there? They’re music production majors, aren’t they?” Felix asked. Suddenly, Jisung shot up, mouth agape, shocking the other three. Hyunjin jumped in his sitting position rather violently, and a shocked yelp came from Felix and Seungmin.

“Felix, you’re a genius!” Jisung exclaimed as he hugged Felix.

“Really, Jisung? You didn’t think about them?” Hyunjin asked, hand on his chest as if he was trying to physically calm his rapidly beating heart. Jisung retracted himself from Felix.

“Well, I didn’t really dwell on it. I just knew I was getting anxious from having to work with maybe strangers.” Jisung explained, pouting. “But! Lixie saved me, thank you Lixie!” Jisung went back to hugging Felix.

“Stop being so dramatic.” Felix rolled his eyes, but still laughed as he hugged Jisung back.

“I’ll go ask Chan hyung and Changbin hyung now!” Jisung said, releasing Felix, and taking his phone. The others took that as a cue to take a small break. Hyunjin stood up and headed for the exit, muttering something about needing to pee. Seungmin and Felix both took their phones too. Felix immediately opened his chat with Chan.

**felix**  
head’s up jisungie’s gonna ask u and changbinnie hyung to team up with him for the project thing  
please say yes  
i don’t want jisungie to work with strangers (｡•́︿•̀｡)  
**_[8:42pm]_**

Felix exited out of the messaging app, not really expecting a fast reply from Chan since his boyfriend had mentioned earlier that evening that he was working on a few tracks for his midterms submissions, so he was shocked when he almost immediately got a notification saying he had gotten a reply.

**chris ’3’** **💛**  
hahaha you’re so cute pixie  
of course i’ll say yes i’d love to try working with sung  
i’m sure binnie will say yes too, i’ll make him if he doesn’t  
**_[8:43pm]_**

 **felix**  
( ˘ ³˘) ♡  
thank u bubby (ღ˘⌣˘ღ)  
anyway what are u doing now, i thought u said u were working on a few tracks?  
**_[8:43pm]_**

 **chris ’3’** **💛**  
yeah i was  
but i’ll always make time for you  
**_[8:43pm]_**

Felix flushed at his boyfriend’s message.

**felix**  
(っ˘з(˘⌣˘ ) ♡  
**_[8:44pm]_**

 **chris ’3’** **💛**  
sike i was already on a break  
**_[8:44pm]_**

Felix’s jaw dropped at the immediate reply, gasping softly.

**felix**  
Σ(°ロ°)  
omg and here i thought u care me (╥﹏╥)  
i’m taking back my kisses  
**_[8:44pm]_**

He wasn’t really angry or offended though, he knew his boyfriend was just playing with him.

**chris ’3’** **💛**  
noooo baby don’t take back your kisses they’re mine now  
i was just joking  
you know i care you  
love you baby ( ˘ ³˘) ♡  
**_[8:45pm]_**

Felix laughed at the message Chan had just sent. His boyfriend rarely ever used emoticons, so it always made Felix’s heart stutter in a certain way every time he did.

“Talking to your mysterious boyfriend?” Hyunjin suddenly asked, causing Felix to jump slightly. He didn’t even hear the tall male come back into the room.

“Felix has a boyfriend, too?” Seungmin asked, a little out of the loop.

“Uh, yeah, I do.” Felix replied Seungmin first, “And yeah, I am.” Felix then replied to Hyunjin, heart still beating rapidly from the shock. Hyunjin smirked as he sat down.

“Channie hyung and Changbinnie hyung said yes!” Jisung whooped, putting his phone back down and put his attention back to the three others in the room.

“That’s great, Sung.” Seungmin smiled.

“What were we talking about?” Jisung asked, evidently not having paid attention to the conversation that had started.

“Felix’s boyfriend.” Seungmin supplied.

“Oh! Chris, right?” Jisung asked, and Felix nodded.

“You know about him, too?” Seungmin asked, and Jisung nodded.

“Of course I do, I’m his roommate.” Jisung replied, “Don’t know anything else about him, though. I only know his name.” Jisung added.

“Yeah, that’s about all I know, too.” Hyunjin sighed.

“Well then? Out with it,” Jisung turned to Felix, “When will we ever meet Mr Mysterious Boyfriend? You always talk to him but we haven’t even met him yet. And you don’t show us any pictures of him." Jisung rattled, "I’m starting to think you’re lying about having one.” Jisung teased, and Seungmin laughed. Felix wanted to laugh too. They were _clueless_.

“He exists, don’t worry.” Felix rebutted, allowing a chuckle. “I’m sure you guys will meet him soon, he’s just rather busy now.” Felix explained, but he was definitely laughing on the inside. _Well, if only they just observed a little closer, they would realise that they had already met him_.

“Can’t you at least show us his picture? He isn’t even your lock screen; your lock screen is you and Chan hyung!” Hyunjin said, exasperated.

“Yeah, even your Instagram is devoid of him.” Jisung complained. Felix really badly wanted to snicker.

“No, he’s shy, I’m protective, and we don’t like just outright displaying our relationship for everyone to see.” Felix replied, having way too much fun. He wasn't lying, but he wasn't telling the truth either. Hyunjin and Jisung just rolled their eyes at him.

“Hey, stop ganging up on Felix, he’ll introduce him to us when he’s ready.” Seungmin defended, and Felix both wanted to thank Seungmin profusely and laugh at him hysterically. He went with thanking him though. _Oh, Seungmin, such a pure soul_.

“Could you at least tell us more about him _other_ than his name?” Jisung asked, almost pleading actually.

Felix hummed in thought first. _How could he make it obvious, but not too obvious?_ “Well, I’ve been dating him for a while now, we’re going to celebrate our third anniversary in July,” Felix started off.

“Three years? Woah, that’s long.” Seungmin commented. “That means you were together with him all throughout high school?” Seungmin asked, and Felix nodded.

_Wait._

_Three years? Isn’t that around the same as-_

“That’s pretty amazing, actually.” Hyunjin commented.

“Why are _you_ so surprised? I told you I started dating him in my first year of high school.” Felix asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I just never thought about how long that is, until now.” Hyunjin said, shrugging his shoulders. The three laughed at him.

“Really, Hyunjin, you should pay more attention to the small details.” Seungmin laughed, and it took everything in Felix to not snort. _You_ all _have to pay more attention to the small details._

“Anyway, continue, continue!” Jisung urged, looking and sounding like an excited child.

“Is he handsome?” Hyunjin asked, and Felix snorted.

“Of course he is, I wouldn’t have stayed with him for so long if he wasn’t.” Felix joked, causing everyone to laugh.

“That’s so shallow of you.” Jisung joked right back, sending another wave of giggles to ripple through the group.

“Alright, alright. I didn’t stay with him just because of his face. I stayed for his body too.” Felix joked again, and the four freshmen laughed harder.

“Okay, but in all seriousness, he is very attractive,” Felix said as he calmed down. “But above it all, he’s really sweet.” Felix smiled softly. “He’s older than me,”

“Ooh, a _sunbae_.” Hyunjin interjected teasingly.

“Shut up, Hyunjin.” Felix shushed before he continued. “He’s older than me, so he takes really good care of me. I’m clingy, _really_ clingy and I’m sure you guys know this by now, and sometimes I honestly think it’s too much for him because, well, he _is_ older. And I’ve had a few older people tell me I’m way too clingy,”

“Tell me their names, I just wanna talk.” Jisung said, and Felix rolled his eyes.

“Sung, you can’t even talk to strangers.” Seungmin reminded.

“Anyway! Back to Chris,” Felix gathered all the attention back to him, “I’m clingy but he never once complained. He even told me it was comforting that I was always holding onto him, and it made him feel good and dependable.” Felix shared, “Sometimes, though, I don’t hold onto him because I really feel like I’m being a bother. But, during those times, _he’s_ that one that holds me, without even saying a word.” Felix said, blushing a little.

“You two sound very cute.” Jisung commented, smiling. Felix mumbled out a bashful ‘thanks’.

“I also like to go to him when I’m really stressed.” Felix added, “He’s just really good at making me relax. He doesn’t even need to do anything special, or anything at all, really. Just his presence enough is calming.” Felix said, “But, when he hugs me or cuddles me, I always feel like all my troubles melt away.” Felix revealed, sucking in a breath. “He’s just so… _Perfect_.” Felix breathed out.

“You really love him, huh?” Seungmin asked, eyes soft. Felix nodded.

“I do, I _really_ do.” Felix confessed, cheeks redder than ever. A light silence settled over the group as they soaked in the adoration Felix exuded as he spoke about his boyfriend.

“Man, I’m so jealous!” Hyunjin said as he flopped onto his back on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. “I want a sweet boyfriend, too.” Hyunjin pouted, breaking the atmosphere in the room. Everyone laughed at him.

“I’m sure the right one will come to you soon, Hyunjinnie.” Felix assured as he ran a hand through Hyunjin’s hair soothingly.

“It’s getting too mushy in here, we need to bring back chaos.” Jisung said. “Let’s go back to Mario Kart. I wanna get payback for what you did to me.” Jisung said, already holding the controller. Hyunjin sat up and grabbed his controller, and Seungmin did the same. Felix gave his phone one last check first.

**chris ’3’** **💛**  
omg are you actually angry i’m sorry pixie you know i would actually always make time for you  
anyway i’m gonna go back to work i hope you enjoy the rest of the night, don’t forget to get some sleep  
**_[8:53pm]_**

 **felix**  
sorry sorry i was talking to jinnie minnie and sungie  
i wasn’t ignoring u my love i promise (｡•́︿•̀｡)  
i love u too bubby i hope ur tracks come along easily (´ε｀ )♡  
don’t forget to take a rest and actually get some sleep too  
i’ll throttle u if I find out u didn’t sleep again (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ  
**_[8:59pm]_**

Felix sent his threat, smiling, before he put down his phone again and grabbed the controller.

“You can try.” Felix said, snickering evilly. And hence, another round of Mario Kart ensued.

Chan and Felix laid down on the elder’s bed, facing each other as they cuddled up against each other. Chan’s arm was under Felix’s head while the other was draped over Felix’s waist, and Felix was tucked under Chan’s chin. Chan used the arm that Felix lay on to play with his orange locks. The atmosphere was serene; up until then, they had been napping, having just woken up a few minutes ago.

Midterms were honestly hell, the first and last exams of the year were always hell, and in between cramming and doing their submissions, Felix and Chan hadn’t been able to see each other much lately. In fact, the whole group hadn’t been able to see each other much lately.

“You’re with Minho and Hyunjin for the project, right?” Chan asked, breaking the calm silence in the room. Felix placed a light kiss on Chan’s sternum before he hummed in confirmation.

“Have you guys started on anything yet?” Chan asked, and he felt Felix shake his head.

“We’ve started discussing on what style we want and tried to narrow down the song choice, but that’s all. Midterms caught up on us real quick. We did plan to meet later this week to hopefully get started, though.”

“Oh, that’s good.”

“Why?” Felix asked, looking up at Chan. Looking at Felix’s freshly woken up face, Chan couldn’t help the giddy smile that overtook his face as he dropped his head to kiss Felix, who hummed into the unexpected, but more than welcome, kiss.

“I have something for you,” Chan replied when they separated, turning onto his back as he reached for his phone with the hand the wasn’t under Felix. Felix whined at being jostled and the lost warmth, and Chan laughed. “Stop being dramatic, Pixie, I’m still right here.” Chan laughed, immediately going back to their original position once he had gotten his phone. Felix only rubbed his head into Chan’s chest in reply. Chan couldn’t help but compare him to a needy kitten in his head.

Chan unlocked his phone and looked through his sound files, immediately spotting what he was looking for. He had just recently finished the song, after all. “I actually have a song that you and your team can use. I wrote it with both yours and Minho’s dance style in mind.” Chan informed before he hit play. It was a lot calmer than most of Chan’s other songs; most of Chan’s compositions were more leaning towards hip-hop, rap, or heavy EDM. This one, though, sounded more like trance, with hints of deep house. Choreographing this would be an absolute _delight_.

When the song ended, the couple stayed silent for a while.

“So, what do you think?” Chan asked nervously. Felix hadn’t heard his boyfriend sound so nervous ever since his auditions to get into university for music.

“Why do you sound so nervous? I love it, bubby.” Felix soothed as he looked up at Chan, before placing another kiss on Chan’s sternum. He immediately felt Chan relax against him, and then he felt a kiss on his forehead.

“I’m glad.” Chan sighed, relieved. “I actually did make it as a gift for you to use, as a congratulations for getting into what you truly wanted.”

“But, can we use original compositions for the project?” Felix asked, propping himself up with his arm, looking down at Chan.

“Of course you can, I’ve seen it been done before. For you guys, the project is only marked according to the choreography that you make. As long as the choreography is your original work, they don’t really care what you choreograph to.” Chan explained, cupping Felix’s cheek. Felix nuzzled into his hand, smiling.

“Then, I happily accept your gift.” Felix said as he leaned down and kissed Chan, who tangled his fingers in Felix’s orange locks. They released after a while, resting their foreheads against each other.

“Thank you, bubby.” Felix kissed Chan again.

“Anything for you, my love.” Chan said, giving Felix a peck of his own. Their faces only inches apart, Chan couldn't help but analyse Felix's face. His features were delicate, freckles splashed across his cheeks and cute button nose by far being his most favorite feature of Felix's face. He was an absolute natural beauty.

“You’re so pretty,” Chan complimented breathlessly, an effect Felix always had on him. “And all mine; my pretty, pretty, pixie.” Chan said, kissing Felix once again, deeply this time.

“All yours, always have been, and always will be.” Felix said with laboured breaths when they separated again, diving in for another kiss right after. They kissed slowly and deeply, with no rush at all, and so filled with love. Felix climbed on top of Chan as they kissed, straddling him, making himself more comfortable. Chan untangled his fingers from Felix’s hair to instead rest his hands gently at the base of Felix’s neck, playing with the hairs at the back of his neck as they kissed.

And then they heard banging on the door, making them separate, breaths laboured.

“You two better not be having sex in there!” They heard Minho’s muffled voice from outside the door, and they both laughed, Felix bringing himself upright again, sitting on Chan’s hip. They heard the door open a minute later. Chan raised himself up on his elbows to look at the door, while Felix just turned his head to see both Minho and Changbin at the door, frozen.

“Oh my god, were you two _actually_ fucking? In broad daylight?” Minho asked after a second of just pure shock. Felix scoffed, turning 180 to instead sit on Chan’s lap rather than straddle him. Chan, too, sat up properly and crossed his legs, arms finding easy purchase around Felix’s waist as he rested his chin on his shoulder.

“We’re both fully clothed, stupid.” Felix shot back, “Besides, if you guys did see anything, that would be your own fault because you chose to open the door.” Felix chastised, making Chan laugh while Minho and Changbin both looked somewhat mortified.

“You’re an absolute _devil_ , you know that?” Changbin hissed.

“Please, I’m an angel.” Felix said ‘innocently’.

“Alright, break it up, I don’t want anyone killing anyone in my room.” Chan said, chuckling. “Especially not my pixie.” Chan added, feeling like teasing his housemates, tightening his hold on Felix’s waist. Felix looked triumphant as he nuzzled his head against Chan’s and kissed his temple.

“I’m calling favouritism.” Changbin grumbled.

“You two are absolutely _disgusting_ , you know that?” Minho said, exasperated.

“I keep telling you, just go get yourself laid or something and stop being bitter.” Felix shrugged. Minho stared at him, disbelieved. He honestly looked like he was about to jump at Felix. Chan wouldn't put it past him so he decided now would be the right time to stop all the teasing.

“Alright, alright, everyone no more teasing,” Chan said, easy smile on his face. “He said yes, by the way, to using the song I wrote.” Chan informed, directed at Minho.

“Oh?" Minho said, relaxing. "That’s great, now we only have to let Hyunjin hear it and hopefully he’ll say yes too.”

“See? Favouritism!” Changbin called out. “Hyung, if you forgot, you actually have your own project team.” Changbin reminded, and Chan only laughed.

“Don’t worry, Bin, we’ll definitely get ours done.” Chan reassured.

“Okay, now everyone out, I wanna spend some alone time with my boyfriend.” Felix chased the two out from where he was still seated on Chan’s lap.

“You’ve been monopolising his time since morning.” Minho deadpanned.

“Okay, and? He’s my boyfriend, I have rights.” Felix replied, the brat that he is. “I mean, if you two really _don’t_ want out, then I guess you two can always just watch us-”

“Good bye!” Changbin shouted, punctuating each word, not even allowing Felix to finish what he was saying, shooting out from behind Minho to close the door, Chan and Felix laughing as the door slammed shut.

A calm silence had since settled in Felix and Jisung’s room. It was barely past midnight, and while it was still the midsemester break, Felix was meeting Minho and Hyunjin somewhat early tomorrow (if 11am could even be considered _early_ ) for their project so Jisung decided to turn in, too. But Jisung’s mind hadn’t stopped racing. He had met Chan and Changbin to discuss the project for the first time just a few days ago, and they were going to meet tomorrow to actually start working on it. While Jisung can easily say Chan and Changbin were amongst his closest friends in university, he had never worked with the upperclassmen before and he was scared he was only going to be a hindrance to them.

“Hey, Felix?” Jisung asked from his bed, looking at the ceiling, trying his luck to see if Felix was still awake. Felix hummed in reply, sounding sleepy.

“What’s Chan hyung like?” Jisung asked, and a silence prolonged between the two. Jisung thought his roommate had already fallen asleep. But his deep voice permeated the silence again.

“What do you mean? You _know_ Chan hyung.” Felix asked, confused.

“Yeah, but do you know how he is when he’s working?” Jisung asked, and he heard Felix utter out an _‘oh’_.

“You’re worried about working with him and Changbin hyung, aren’t you?” Felix asked, and Jisung hummed in confirmation.

“You have nothing to worry about, Sungie.” Felix reassured. “Channie hyung takes his work seriously, but he isn’t unbearably serious.” Felix started, and Jisung heard movement over on Felix’s bed. Jisung turned his head, and with the help from the moonlight coming in through the window, Jisung could see that Felix had turned to face him

“He often chooses working over sleeping, and I’ve been trying to fix that for _years_ ,” Felix grumbled out that last part, “But he would never force you to work like he does. In fact, he would probably chastise you if you asked him for help at like 3am or something, telling you that you should be asleep rather than working while he himself is sitting in front of his laptop, doing work.” Felix drawled.

“Is he mean? When he’s stressed.” Jisung asked.

“No, not at all,” Felix replied. “Channie hyung is sweet through and through,” If Jisung looked close enough, he could see a small smile gracing his lips, “He would never be mean to others. He’s just not the type to burst out at others, and if anything, he gets mad at _himself_.” Felix said. “I would know, I’ve seen him during his university applications period. It’s by far the most stressed I’ve ever seen him.”

“How about Changbin hyung? Do you know anything?” Jisung asked.

“I can’t say I know much, I’ve only heard about his workstyle from Channie hyung.” Felix informed. “But, from what I've heard, Changbin hyung is pretty chill too.” A silence settled between the two again, Jisung thinking.

“Sungie?” Felix called a while later.

“Yes?” Jisung answered.

“You’ll be fine. I know you will be. I wouldn’t recommend you work with Channie hyung and Changbin hyung if I think they’re gonna be horrible to work with.” Felix reassured.

“Alright.” Jisung said, still anxious but not wanting to worry Felix too much. “Thank you, Lix.”

“You’re welcome, Sung.”

The next day, Jisung came back to their dorm room, heart light and head a devoid of worries.

“Everything worked out fine, didn’t it?” Felix had asked the second Jisung came into the room, smile on his lips. Jisung smiled back.

“Yeah, yeah it did.” Jisung said, going up to Felix to hug him. Felix was confused, but hugs were always welcome.

“Thanks again, Lixie.” Jisung said, squeezing Felix.

“Any time, Sungie.” Felix squeezed back.

Chan, Minho, and Seungmin entered the campus café, which had quickly turned into one of the usual hangout places of the group of seven. The other four were still in class, but they had said they were going to be released soon.

It was the first week of classes again, school having just resumed after the 2-week break after midterms.

“Seungmin, why don’t you find us a place to sit? We’ll go get the orders settled.” Chan turned to Seungmin, seeing that the café wasn’t quite full yet, but probably soon. Seungmin nodded and gave them his order before he turned to head towards the booth they usually sat at.

“Are you going to order for Felix too?” Seungmin heard Minho ask Chan as they split.

“No, I won’t. I don’t want his drink to melt before he gets here.” He heard Chan reply.

_Huh._

Every single time Seungmin’s had coffee with Felix, the freckled boy always got a hot drink. He didn’t always order the same thing, but it was always hot. So, how did Chan know that Felix would want a cold drink this time? Seungmin didn’t think about it too much though. He has had suspicions about the two Australians ever since he realised Chan and Felix have both been together with their respective boyfriends for the same amount of years, but knowing drink orders don’t really mean that much. The two have known each other for years now, it’s not really amazing that they would be familiar with each other’s drink orders.

Seungmin waited for at most five minutes before the two juniors joined him at the booth, Minho taking a seat on the inside and Chan followed after him, both sitting opposite Seungmin. The freshman thanked the two as Chan set down his drink in front of him. Seungmin turned to his bag to take out his wallet as the two juniors settled down, and Minho turned to Chan once they did.

“Hey, do you want to invite Felix to move in with us next year?” Minho asked the music production major. Chan raised his eyebrow in question. Seungmin’s eyebrows raised too, but in surprise. He even stopped midway through getting his wallet.

“Where did this suddenly come from?” Chan asked as he took a sip of his drink while Seungmin just stayed silent as he resumed his task. Minho just shrugged.

“It just seemed like the most natural sequence of events to me.” Minho simply replied. “He already knows the code to our door, all that’s left for him is moving his clothes over.”

“Well, I mean it would be great if he did, but isn’t it too early to be thinking about this? He’s just only in his first semester.” Chan replied and Minho scoffed. Seungmin had already gotten his wallet but just sat there, watching the exchange silently.

“University dorms are hell, you know that,” Minho rolled his eyes, “That’s why we moved out as soon as we could.”

Chan made a sound of agreement, but just shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, I’ll ask him about it. I don’t think he seems to mind the dorms though; he seems to be pretty content rooming with Jisung in the dorms.” Chan replied. “But, it is only three months into the academic year. I’ll ask at a later time, I still think it’s too early.” Chan said. By now Seungmin felt like he was watching a slightly interesting tennis match.

“Haven’t you and him ever talked about moving in together?” Minho asked, and Seungmin only had more questions swirling in his head.

_Was I right?_

“Well, yeah, but our discussions were almost always about way into the future. We’re both still young, we have lots of time to think about when we’ll move in together exactly.” Chan replied.

“Well, why not sooner rather than later? We have enough room in our unit to accommodate him anyway.” Minho said. “Changbin always seems pretty enthusiastic about having him around, anyway. He would happily kick me out if it meant Felix would stay with us.” Minho scoffed and Chan snorted. Yeah, Seungmin was definitely confused by now.

_Was I wrong and is Changbin hyung the mysterious boyfriend instead?_

“How big is your apartment that you can accommodate four university students?” Seungmin decided that it was now time to actually be part of the conversation. Both juniors turned their attention to him.

“I’d say it’s pretty normal, but a little bigger than what a university student can usually afford. We each get our own room. But there _are_ three people sharing the cost and sometimes our parents help out if they need to.” Chan replied.

“We hadn’t needed their help ever since we first moved in, though. Hyung’s job pays well.” Minho interjected, and Chan scoffed.

“I just got lucky with landing a part-time position after my internship stint, don’t make it sound like I’m some sort of big shot.” Chan fought back. “Besides, you and Binnie have pretty decent-paying jobs too, for university students.”

“And you still have an extra room for Felix?” Seungmin asked.

“No? Why would we need an extra room, anyway? Felix can just move into Chan hyung’s room; he’s got the biggest one.” Minho replied.

“Wouldn’t that just be the same as rooming with someone, then?” Seungmin asked. Maybe if he pushed enough, his questions would be answered.

“Why do I feel like this conversation sounds more confusing than it should be?” Chan interjected.

“I don’t know, ask Seungmin.” Minho shrugged his shoulders. “Chan and Felix are dating, why would it feel like they’re just bros rooming with each other?” Minho asked, turning his attention back to Seungmin. Seungmin’s jaw dropped a little, slightly shocked but mostly because he got hit with clear realisation.

 _So I_ was _right, after all._

“Now why do you look so surprised?” Chan asked, turning to Seungmin. That was when it dawned on Minho, and the dancer just laughed.

“And now why are _you_ laughing?” Chan turned to Minho. “I’m so confused right now.” Chan added under his breath.

“Don’t tell me you’re one of those people who refused to believe that Chan hyung is taken?” Minho chuckled, and Chan huffed.

“What? No.” Seungmin replied, furrowing his eyebrows. “People _actually_ refuse to believe Chan hyung isn’t single? I thought you were just joking when you mentioned it the last time.” Seungmin followed up.

“Oh, it was no joke.” Minho chuckled. “Like I said, it’s like everyone had a discussion and agreed to collectively be in denial or something. He’s _been_ telling people that he had a boyfriend, but people still asked him out anyway.” Minho replied. “I guess that that’s just the _campus heartthrob_ woes.” Minho teased, snickering.

“Stop saying such embarrassing stuff, don’t call me that.” Chan scolded, flushing. “Anyway, why do you seem so shocked, then?” Chan turned his attention back to Seungmin.

“Yeah, did Felix never tell you he had a boyfriend?” Minho asked.

“No, it’s not that, he has mentioned that he had a boyfriend before, but all he told me was that his name is ‘Chris’," Chan sighed at that, "So I just assumed it was someone he knew from high school or something and I was never too curious to ask.” Seungmin replied. “But, I did have a suspicion that the said boyfriend is Chan hyung with how they interacted with each other and how much time they spend with each other, and also because you two mentioned being in a relationship for around the same number of years. I just didn’t bring anything up because it could just be that they’re just really close old friends. Felix is pretty affectionate with everyone.” Seungmin explained. "Where did 'Chris' come from, anyway?"

"It's my English name." Chan replied, shrugging. "He calls me that, sometimes. Mostly just uses his plethora of nicknames for me, though."

“Well, you aren’t wrong about the someone he knew from high school part,” Minho laughed, “But, you’re one of the smarter ones. It’s been months since Chan’s ‘non-existent boyfriend’ has been physically around, and yet people haven’t caught on and people are _still_ asking Chan out.” Minho said, teasing glint still in his eyes. “I kinda figured you already had it all figured out, that’s why I spoke about Felix moving in so casually. Turns out I was wrong.” Minho added.

“ _I’m_ starting to believe the whole school is in agreement to be in denial at this point.” Seungmin mumbled, making Minho laugh. “Also, I just needed that little push to find out for sure that they were dating each other.”

“Really, Channie, you two should just announce it to the whole school at this point. Aren’t you tired?” Minho went back to teasing the music production major.

“You know we’re not the type of people to showcase our relationship to the whole world.” Chan replied. “Besides, it’s not like we’re even trying to keep it a secret. If you look through our social media accounts I think it’s pretty obvious that we’re dating and have been for a while.” Chan said. “Besides, it’s not my fault people never ask me _who_ I’m dating. They just assume I’m lying in an attempt to be courteous about rejecting them. If they just asked, I would happily tell them.” Chan huffed, clearly exasperated.

“Oh, please, both yours and Felix’s social media accounts are pretty cryptic.” Minho scoffed. “Both of you have posts with other friends that have ‘I love you’ somewhere in the caption, it’s pretty hard to differentiate whether those ‘I love you’s are just the bros kind, or the “we’re fucking” kind.” Minho joked.

“Minho!” Chan exclaimed, red quickly climbing up his neck. Seungmin chose to just ignore that sentence. He didn’t need to know _anything_ about his friends’ sex lives.

“And Felix? How does he feel about all of this?” Seungmin asked.

“Felix is the same as me. He’s told me a few people have asked him out in high school, but it’s easier for him to reject people because people in our high school actually know that I exist and have seen me and him interacting.” Chan shrugged his shoulders. “And I think he finds the whole situation funny; every time I tell him I got confessed to again he just laughs and asks if people still don’t believe he actually existed. I’m starting to think he hasn’t been telling people who exactly he’s dating just because he finds it funny.” Chan sighed, sounding both exasperated and yet still very in love.

It was then that the little bell above the café door rang, and the three turned their attention to the entrance to see Felix and Hyunjin enter. The two smiled and waved at their friends before Hyunjin walked towards the counter while Felix went straight to the booth, immediately moving to sit beside Chan.

“Hey Channie hyung, missed ya.” Felix said as he wrapped his arms around Chan’s shoulders and kissed his temple. Chan smiled as he happily wrapped his arms around Felix’s waist.

“Hello, love.” Chan kissed Felix’s cheek as the freshman settled beside him, still keeping his arm wrapped around his boyfriend. “I missed you, too.” Chan smiled. Minho made a fake gagging sound from beside them, and Seungmin just watched.

Yeah, he really should have come to a conclusion way earlier.

“Hey, we’re here too.” Minho jabbed playfully, and Felix stuck his tongue out at him.

“Hello, people who matter less.” Felix playfully greeted, and Chan laughed as Minho mocked offense.

“Love, that’s a little mean.” Chan said as he rubbed Felix’s waist gently. Felix just muttered a ‘whatever’ as he snuggled into Chan’s side.

“Are you two always this gross?” Seungmin asked, and Minho snickered.

“You’re just jealous.” Felix said, before his eyebrows shot up in realisation. “Oh, hey, wait. You found out we’re dating?” Felix asked. Seungmin nodded.

“He just found out, as in just a few minutes ago.” Minho supplied.

“Oh, nice!” Felix smiled. “Not gonna lie, I was expecting Jisung to find out first. He’s literally my roommate.” Felix revealed and everyone at the table chuckled.

“He’s pretty oblivious, give him a little more time.” Seungmin replied, chuckling.

“I do have a favour to ask though.” Felix said, and Seungmin nodded at him to continue. “Could you keep this a secret from Sungie and Jinnie? You’re free to drop hints and all, but just don’t tell them straight to their face.” Felix asked, and Seungmin raised his eyebrows in question. Chan and Minho only laughed at the favour Felix asked.

“I mean, sure, but why?” Seungmin asked.

“I told you, he finds it funny that people can’t connect the ‘obvious dots’.” Chan replied for Felix, “But what he actually means is that he finds it fun to watch my suffering.” Chan added and Felix laughed, hugging Chan by the shoulders again and kissing his cheek again.

“I don’t find it _fun_ , bubby, I find it _funny_.” Felix corrected jokingly. “But, listen, we’re not even making it difficult for them. If they really can’t see the signs which are on metaphorical billboards at this point, then it’s on them.” Felix fought back, making the others laugh.

“Alright, I’ll help you keep your façade up.” Seungmin said, chuckling, and Felix beamed, muttering numerous ‘thank you’s at him.

That was when Hyunjin came to the table too, two iced drinks in hand, one iced americano and the other looked like a strawberry smoothie, judging by its appearance. He put the smoothie in front of Felix, who thanked his fellow dance freshman.

 _So Chan hyung really_ did _know Felix’s drink order._

Hyunjin greeted everyone at the table once more and sat down beside Seungmin, and the five lurched into a comfortable conversation as they waited for Jisung and Changbin to arrive and soon enough, they did.

The booth was a little squeezy once the last two joined them, but it was still comfortable. The whole friend group was in conversation, but Seungmin couldn’t help but notice Chan and Felix. Chan still had his arm wrapped around Felix, as if it was natural. It _looked_ natural. They really were rather obvious.

And then, at one point, when less of the attention seemed like it was on them, Chan planted a quick kiss on Felix’s shoulder, who only smiled and gently rubbed Chan’s thigh in affection.

Yeah, Seungmin _really_ should have noticed way sooner.

Chan, Changbin, and Jisung were in one of the studios in the university, working on their joint project. They had met a few times already, and thankfully, everything turned out well. The three’s workstyles clicked right away and they very easily found a system that worked for them, their ideas melding with each other rather easily. Jisung mentally thanked Felix once again, both for introducing Jisung to the two upperclassmen and for soothing his racing thoughts all those nights ago.

Chan was sat in front of the computer, taking command of the software. They had been working for a couple of hours now, and while it had been a very productive couple of hours, they could all feel themselves getting tired.

Suddenly, Chan’s phone lit up from where it was set aside near the keyboard, immediately catching Changbin’s attention, who was nearer to where his phone was set aside. Also because he knew Chan always set his phone on Do Not Disturb mode whenever he worked, and only one contact had emergency bypass on.

Sure enough, the notification showed that he had gotten a message from ‘pixie 🧚🏼💛’.

“Hyung, you’ve got a message.” Changbin called, getting both Chan and Jisung’s attention. Chan glanced at his phone screen that was lit up, and Changbin saw him immediately light up before he retrieved his phone. “I think it’s high time for a break, don’t you think?” Changbin took the opportunity to suggest, already standing up and grabbing his phone, which was beside Chan’s. Chan hummed in agreement, signalling the start of a break.

Jisung stood up and stretched, while Changbin moved to the small couch in the studio room, plopping down onto it and stretching his back, groaning.

“Chan hyung, you went to the same high school as Felix did, right?” Jisung asked once he sat back down, and Chan hummed, attention still on his phone.

“Yeah, I did.” Chan nodded.

“Do you know anything about his boyfriend?” Jisung asked innocently. Chan choked on his own spit, hacking, and Changbin barked out a laugh, confusing Jisung.

“What? Did I say something weird?” Jisung asked, and Chan shook his head as he put aside his phone again, still coughing. Changbin was still laughing from the couch.

“You just surprised me, is all.” Chan replied once his throat was finally fine again, grabbing his water bottle taking a sip to try and soothe his throat more. Changbin was slowly coming down from his high. Chan glared at his housemate before he turned his attention back to Jisung. “Anyway, why are you asking me? Why don’t you ask Felix? Hasn’t he already told you?” Chan asked, and Jisung shook his head.

“Felix only told me his name was Chris,” Chan had to cough at that one again and Changbin giggled again, “He said he was ’protective’, Felix hasn’t even shown me any photos of him. I’m honestly starting to really think that he’s lying.” Jisung said, and Chan internally rolled his eyes at his boyfriend’s ‘reasoning’, and Changbin was full on laughing again, but at least he tried to keep it down this time. “But also, I don’t want to doubt him, so I thought I would ask you, instead, since you’ve known him for so long. I also don’t want to pressure him into doing anything he isn’t comfortable with, but I’m just so curious” Jisung explained, and Chan couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for him. Jisung was yet another unsuspecting player in Felix’s silly game.

But he loved Felix too much to kill his fun. No one was getting hurt or harmed, and Chan wasn’t really too bothered by the regular love confessions he got. No one was ever too obsessive, and neither he nor Felix ever lied about their relationship status.

“Well, one thing I can definitely tell you is that don’t mind Felix; he’s just being a cheeky little git,”

“I’m telling Felix you called him that!”

“Try it and I’m locking you out of the house,” Chan threatened semi-jokingly before he turned his attention back to Jisung. “He’s not actually ‘protective’. He just likes making people work to find out who his boyfriend is themselves rather than he tell them outright.” Chan informed Jisung. Jisung only tilted his head in confusion.

“Why would he? Literally _anyone_ could be his boyfriend!” Jisung said, exasperated. “Does he at least study in our university, too?” Jisung asked.

“Yeah, yeah he does.” Chan replied, voice a little strangled. He was never good at lying.

Changbin only snickered from his place on the couch.

“Anyway, I… Actually can’t tell you that much else about his boyfriend. I don’t know him too well.” Chan told Jisung, not knowing how to describe himself without completely exposing himself. He also didn’t want to call himself ‘handsome’ or ‘charismatic’ or any of those other adjectives he has heard both Felix and other people describe him. “Heard from Lix that he was sweet, though. That’s really all I can gather whenever he talks about him.” Chan said, trying his best to sound neutral.

“Oh…” Jisung said, a little dejected.

“Don’t worry about it, Sung-ah, I think you’ll find out who he is soon." Changbin reassured, "You just need to open your eyes a little more. And I mean, _really_ just a little.” Changbin snickered. Chan turned his head slightly and glared at him, who only shrugged nonchalantly when he saw his housemate’s glare. Felix allowed hints, no matter how obvious, as long as you didn’t outright expose who it was.

“You know who Lix’s boyfriend is?” Jisung asked, whipping his chair around to look at Changbin incredulously.

“Yeah, of course. Being friends with Chan hyung means being friends with Lix, sooner or later. I’ve met his boyfriend before, even worked with him a few times too.” Changbin said, smoothly saving his own ass.

“So he’s an Arts student too?” Jisung asked, and Changbin nodded.

“Alright, enough talking about Felix and his boyfriend,” Chan announced, not sure how long he can hold his tongue and his sanity if they continued talking about, well, _him_. “Let’s get back to work.”

Thankfully, both Changbin and Jisung let the topic drop, and all three of them took their original positions again. Chan sent a quick text to Felix to inform him he was going back to work, before he set his phone aside again, ready to resume work.

The Saturday before finals week had all of them crammed into Chan, Minho, and Changbin’s apartment. Half of them sat around the coffee table in the living room, and the rest sat at the breakfast counter in an attempt to get more space, as they did last minute cramming for finals.

They had agreed to study as a group, because some of the freshmen really appreciated the help that the three upperclassmen could give them. They knew how to explain some concepts easier than their professors could, which helped them get a grasp on them easier. And, Seungmin wasn’t left out, either, since he studied pretty similar things to the music production majors, the main difference was that his studio and practical lessons focused more on voice rather than music.

They would have opted to study in the library for more space, but they realised that the library would probably be packed, and also the group couldn’t keep quiet for more than 30 consecutive minutes, so they figured the upperclassmen’s apartment was the best decision. It was a little squeezy, but it’s better than a lot of their other options.

They had arrived early in the morning, and while it was actually the agreed time for them to come, none of the unit’s occupants were even awake yet. Hyunjin and Jisung almost threw a fit, but Felix had easily input the code and opened the door for them. They were all dead tired, finals week and submissions rapidly catching up to them and it was early on a _Saturday_ morning, so no one asked any questions. Seungmin was already in on the secret, so he didn’t even have any questions in the first place, and Hyunjin and Jisung didn’t have enough energy to ask.

It was afternoon now, and the boys were slowly starting to get restless.

“Ugh, I can’t do this anymore.” It was Hyunjin who succumbed first, flopping down onto his back, groaning. This signalled everyone to relax. Felix flopped down sideways, head falling onto Chan’s lap, who allowed it, gently carding his fingers through Felix’s hair as he smiled down at his boyfriend.

“I think it’s a good time for lunch soon.” Chan suggested, being met with agreement from the whole group.

“This house doesn’t have enough food to feed 7 university students, we’re heading out to eat.” Minho said as he stood from his seat at the breakfast counter, only to be met with groans from Hyunjin and Felix.

“5 more minutes, hyung.” Hyunjin whined, “Give me 5 more minutes to get myself to get up.” Hyunjin said, stretching. Minho rolled his eyes, but he just flopped himself down onto their couch, taking out his phone. Silence met the whole group as everyone was left to their own devices, save for Felix and Chan who were having a hushed conversation between themselves, in that mix of Korean and English that they used with each other so much the group started calling it ‘their’ language.

“Hey, Chan hyung,” Hyunjin suddenly called while he was still laying flat on his back. Chan, who had his head bowed down in order to be closer to Felix’s, lifted his head as he let out a questioning ‘yeah?’

“What’s your boyfriend like?” Hyunjin asked. Jisung picked his head up from where he let it lay against the couch, attention now piqued, while Changbin full-on burst out laughing. Minho, Seungmin, and Felix were laughing too but not as loud, and Chan couldn’t help but turn red at the sudden question.

“ _Where_ did this suddenly come from?” Chan spluttered.

“I just feel like we’ve been acquainted long enough for me to finally ask, I’ve been curious since Felix told me you weren’t single.” Hyunjin replied, still not picking himself up.

“How do you keep getting yourself in these situations?” Changbin asked as he laughed, “Just a few weeks ago Jisung asked you if you knew what _Felix’s_ boyfriend was like.”

“You did?” Felix asked, head shooting up from its place on Chan’s lap, looking at Jisung.

“Yeah, I did,” Jisung answered sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m sorry! I was just too curious and you wouldn’t give me information.”

“Nah, it’s fine, I’m not mad or anything.” Felix laughed as he slumped against Chan. “I just want you to find out yourself. Seungmin’s already done it, I’m sure you two can do it, too.”

“You did?” Hyunjin asked, shooting up into a sitting position to look at his roommate, who just nodded, as if gloating. “You _traitor_. You didn’t even tell me anything!” Hyunjin complained.

“It’s not that hard to guess.” Seungmin laughed.

“Yeah, it’s really not.” It was then that Minho decided to interject. “You guys just need to be a little bit more observant.” Minho smiled

“You know him too, hyung?” Jisung asking, whipping his head around to look at Minho, who just nodded.

“ _Coincidentally_ ,” Minho said, teasing glint in his eyes as he took a glance at Chan and Felix, “Lixie’s boyfriend is a pretty good friend of mine. Same year as me, too.”

“How could you tell _Minho hyung_ and not _me_?” Hyunjin turned to Felix, betrayed.

“Hey, I didn’t tell him anything,” Felix said, raising his hands. “He found that out himself.”

Both Hyunjin and Jisung groaned at that. “Wait, don’t change the subject,” Hyunjin turned back to face Chan, “Could you tell us what your boyfriend’s like?”

Everyone who was in the know just giggled at the question again, Felix looking at his boyfriend teasingly. “Yeah, Channie hyung, what _is_ your boyfriend like?” Felix asked, nudging him with his shoulder.

“Well, if you guys really want to know,” Chan started and Felix immediately regretted joining in on the teasing because he could just feel the embarrassment to come, “He’s the sweetest, cutest, most lovable little angle ever.” Chan said, staring right at Felix’s eyes. Felix could already feel his face getting hot.

“He’s the softest person ever who always makes sure that I remember to take care of myself and that I’m loved, and gives me all the kisses and cuddles I could ever ask for.” Chan continued, turning his attention back to the group. “He’s so passionate about everything he does and would stop at nothing if he truly wanted something.”

“Sometimes, I just really have to stop and thank the universe for gifting me someone as perfect as him.” Chan ended, staring back at a very red Felix. “He’s sunshine personified. _My_ own personal sunshine.”

“Hyung…” Felix whined, bowing his head to try and hide his red face, gently headbutting Chan’s shoulder and keeping his head there. Chan gently pet Felix’s head, smile soft and affectionate. Minho and Changbin gagged.

“Disgusting!” Minho exclaimed. “How do you keep finding ways to put me in situations with such sappy atmospheres.” Minho blanched, “I have _suffered_.”

“Like I said, you deserve to be _jailed!_ ” Changbin cried. Chan laughed at the suffering around him.

“Hey! It’s you guys who wanted me to describe the love of my life.” Chan got back at them, being met with another round of groans.

“This is so unfair,” Hyunjin complained as he flopped down again, kicking his legs like a petulant child. “Both you and Felix sound like you two have such picture-perfect relationships. I want one.”

“We do,” Chan said softly, smiling both dreamily and teasingly. “Now, everyone up on their feet, we gotta go get lunch.” Chan said as he stood up, everyone following suit. Felix held out his hands for him, and Chan immediately took them and helped him stand. Once on both his feet, Chan still kept one of his hands in his.

“C’mon lazybones, you’re the one who said you can’t do this anymore.” Seungmin said as he tried to drag his roommate up on his feet. Hyunjin whined and groaned, but he stood up anyway, the promise of food better than his desire to be immobile.

It was a mess getting everyone to wear their shoes in the small entryway of the apartment, but they managed to do it without grave injury. In the elevator, everyone agreed on getting lunch at the diner they frequented, the safe and fuss-free choice.

“Is that really how you see me?” Felix asked Chan as they made the short walk to the diner. They were at the back of the group this time, hands clasped in each other’s ever since they made it out the apartment door. Hyunjin and Jisung were busy being hyperactive at the front of the group, so Felix wasn’t too concerned about whether they heard him and Chan or not.

“Of course, sunshine.” Chan replied, gently rubbing his thumb on the back of Felix’s hand. “You’re probably the best thing to ever happen to me.”

“Stop, you’re embarrassing me.” Felix knocked his head against Chan’s shoulder. Chan laughed, adoration bursting in his chest.

Chan brought up Felix’s hand and placed a gentle kiss on the back of it. “You shouldn’t be so embarrassed, I’m only telling the truth.”

“Why are you so sappy today?” Felix complained, but secretly loving all the love that was being given to him by the person he loved the most.

“I just love you a lot, and I’ll express it every chance I get.”

“See? So sappy.” Felix repeated. But then he stopped walking, making Chan stop too. Chan turned to look back at him, confused.

“Pixie?” Chan asked, and then suddenly Felix’s lips were on his.

“But I love you too, so much.” Felix smiled, before he hurriedly started walking again, pulling Chan along with him. Chan was confused at first, but then he saw the redness in Felix’s ears, and then he laughed.

His own personal sunshine, indeed.

“To all of us getting chosen!” Minho made a toast as they all clinked their beer glasses and cheered.

It was now summer break, finals having ended just two weeks ago, and submissions for the project done with last week. Turns out, all of their teams got chosen as one of the five project teams to perform. So, they all decided to celebrate within themselves at the diner.

“And to hell with finals!” Hyunjin added, and everyone clinked their glasses as they laughed again, before they all drank, almost the whole table letting out a relieved sigh once they were done. Finals really were hell, in the week and days leading up to them, the most ‘quality’ time the group spent together was studying their asses off.

“Are you guys going to change up your performances for the showcase?” Seungmin asked, directed at the whole group. When they were chosen, they were told that they were free to improve on their submissions for the performance if they wanted, as long as they didn’t change it entirely. Often times students did make improvements, wanting to showcase their best to increase their chances of being scouted.

“Yeah, we decided to sing our track ourselves, and we’re going to sing for the performance, too. Channie hyung is helping us record.” Felix replied, gesturing to Chan, who had his arm draped around Felix’s chair.

“Oh, really? I heard from Seokmin hyung that he got Chan hyung is helping us record our backing track, too.” Seungmin informed, and Felix immediately whirled around to face Chan and smacked his thigh lightly, making him jump a little in surprise.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were helping Seungminnie’s group too? I wouldn’t have asked you if I knew, you’ll overwork yourself again!” Felix chastised.

“I’m not overworking myself, I swear!” Chan replied, and Felix looked at him incredulously.

“Hyung, you’re essentially working on three projects now.” Felix deadpanned.

“Don’t worry about it, Felix,” It was Changbin who interjected, deciding to for once save Chan. “We won’t be doing too much to our own project, maybe just a few tweaks here and there. And for you guys, it’s really just recording and doing basic mixing and mastering. The whole process itself will probably only take a day, at most.” Changbin explained, and Felix just stared back and forth between Changbin and Chan.

“If I find out you’re not sleeping again, I’ll throttle you, I swear I will.” Felix turned his attention back to Chan, both being serious about his threat but not really. He’d still like to keep his boyfriend alive for as long as possible.

“Don’t worry about it, Pixie, really,” Chan reassured, taking the hand that Felix still had on his thigh and kissing the back of it lightly. “I wouldn’t take more than I know I can handle.”

_Pixie? Isn’t that-_

“Throttle him, huh?” Minho piped up from his seat, and everyone turned to him to see the teasing smirk on his lips. “I didn’t know you were into choking, Felix. That’s _kinky_.”

And just like that, the atmosphere that had slightly dampened went right back up to being light hearted and celebratory as everyone joined in on teasing a very red Felix, who could do nothing but splutter and opt to hide himself in Chan’s shoulder, who simply laughed as he ran a reassuring hand up and down Felix’s back.

Jisung woke with his head pounding the next morning, groaning as he sat up slowly. Opening his eyes, he saw that he definitely wasn’t in his dorm room. He looked around to see that he was in the three upperclassmen’s apartment living room, and Seungmin was sleeping on the couch while Hyunjin slept beside him on blankets, just like he did. He could see the coffee table pushed off to the side, but Felix was nowhere in sight.

He tried to remember what had happened last night to explain the absolute lack of his roommate. They had drunk and he was pretty sure he along with Felix and Hyunjin got smashed, Seungmin was probably pretty drunk too but he vaguely remembered him saying he knew his limits so he had stopped drinking earlier than the rest of them. He also vaguely remembered the upperclassmen’s’ unanimous decision to bring the freshmen back to the apartment rather than try and get them back to the dorms (he even remembered Chan saying something about not wanting to drive them back either because he was also under the influence). But nothing explained where his roommate had gone.

He didn’t have much time to think about it, though, because it was his bladder who forced him up. He hauled himself onto his feet, groaning again as he stood up and the world started spinning. Once he deemed it fine enough, he started walking towards where he thought the bathroom was. He had only been to the apartment once or twice before, so he couldn’t really remember which door the bathroom was, so he first tried the first one on the left, but it was locked. Seeing as all the other doors were closed, Jisung guessed that he was the first one up so the door he just tried couldn’t be the bathroom, so he moved on to the door beside it. This door wasn’t locked, but the second Jisung saw what was inside, his eyes widened and he immediately closed it again, keeping in mind to do it as softly as he possibly could in his current state, before he rushed to the door across the first door he tried and, discovering it was the bathroom, immediately went in and locked the door, resting his back against it. He brought a hand up to his mouth, trying to physically stop the scream that was threatening to come out of his mouth, his face red and full bladder momentarily forgotten.

Behind the second door he opened was Chan’s room. And on his bed lay a very clearly shirtless Chan with Felix very cosily snuggled up to him, their arms around each other as they slept peacefully.

_Was Chan hyung and Felix cheating on their boyfriends with each other?_

Jisung shook his head; _they wouldn’t_. Jisung quickly relieved himself and went back to his makeshift bed, mind racing.

Maybe it wasn’t what it seemed. Chan wasn’t completely naked, and Felix was fully clothed, although if Jisung’s muddled head could remember he wasn’t in the same clothes he had on last night. But there weren’t any clothes strewn around the floor if Jisung could remember in that one second he saw what was inside the room.

 _Yeah,_ yeah _. They’re not cheating._

Maybe it was just a childhood best friends thing. It didn’t seem like they did anything more than simply sleep. And Felix had proven himself to be a cuddly person, he and Jisung had cuddled loads before, sometimes they even cuddled until they fell asleep. And there wasn’t much space left in the living room, Felix probably wouldn’t have fit. Chan probably just offered to share the bed with Felix, they were long time friends and they’ve probably shared the bed and cuddled loads of times before.

_Yeah._

_That must be it. Chan and Felix were_ not _cheating on their boyfriends._

Jisung could convince himself of that. They were definitely not the type to do anything as horrible as that. Jisung would be willing to fight that thought to the death unless very clearly proven otherwise.

Somehow, Jisung found himself dozing off again, despite his racing thoughts.

He awoke again an hour later to the sound of a door opening and closing. He waited a few minutes before he heard a door open again, and he looked up from his position to see Felix coming out of the bathroom. Felix managed to catch his movement.

“Good morning, Sungie.” Felix greeted quietly.

“Morning, Lix.” Jisung greeted back, “Slept well?”

“Yeah,” Felix replied, then chuckled a little. “Head hurts like a bitch, though.” Felix complained, and Jisung chuckled along with him. “I’m gonna go lie down for a little longer. You’re not hungry yet, are you?”

Jisung shook his head. “Nah, I just woke up myself.”

“Alright, I’ll probably be up again in like 15 minutes. If the rest aren’t awake by then, let’s wake them so we can go get food.” Felix said.

“Sure,” Jisung replied. “See you, Lix.” Jisung said, letting his head drop onto the pillow again.

“See you, Sungie.” Felix replied before Jisung heard a door close again.

So, Felix wasn’t making a big deal out of it. He and Chan were definitely not cheating, in Jisung’s books. Felix wouldn’t be so calm about it if they were.

Jisung stretched, groaning as he heard his back pop and crack. Changbin was busy powering down the workstation.

He and Changbin were in the studio again, having just finished some last minute fine-tuning to their track for the performance. Chan wasn’t around, he had apologised profusely and told the two that he had an important prior engagement. Changbin had easily brushed it off, seemingly knowing exactly what that 'prior engagement' was, so Jisung didn’t ask any questions. Changbin seemed fine with it and knew the importance of whatever it was Chan had to attend to, and that was enough to tell Jisung that he had nothing to worry about. He didn’t mind, either. He knew he and Changbin would be able to handle.

“Wanna go grab dinner?” Changbin asked as he made sure that the studio was locked. Jisung, mid-yawn, made a sound of agreement. Changbin scoffed. “Gross, that’s ugly.”

“Shut up, it’s a natural bodily function.” Jisung fought back. “Did you have anything in mind for dinner?”

“Yeah, actually, I did.” Changbin nodded as they made their way to the elevator. “A pizza place Chan hyung told me about at COEX.” Changbin continued, “It’s a little further away from campus though, you okay with that?”

“Yeah, of course. It’s not that far.” Jisung replied as the elevator arrived. The two stepped inside. “Speaking of, do you know what he had to do today?”

Changbin raised an eyebrow in question. “Curious, are we?”

“Kinda, yeah.” Jisung answered as they stepped out of the elevator. “You seemed to know what it was.” Jisung shrugged. “It’s not confidential, is it?”

“Nah,” Changbin shook his head, “It’s his and his boyfriend’s anniversary today. He’s just shy, that’s why he didn’t say so.” Changbin said, snickering.

“Oh, I see.” Jisung replied, nodding. _See? Chan hyung couldn’t be cheating._ “Do you know his boyfriend?” Jisung asked.

“Yeah, I do. I’ve met him before.” 

“Is he really like how Chan hyung describes him?”

“Yeah,” Changbin replied, and then a mischievous smile stretched its way across his lips. “He’s very much like Felix, actually.”

“Felix?” Jisung repeated, and Changbin nodded. “If his boyfriend is like _Felix_ , then he really must be sunshine personified.”

“Yeah, he is.” Changbin snickered yet again, having way too much fun. “They’re very gross and sappy when they’re together. Minho hyung and I really have suffered with the stuff we’ve seen.”

“I think they sound adorable.” _Chan hyung definitely wasn’t cheating._

“No, trust me, you really haven’t seen anything yet.”

Changbin and Jisung arrived at COEX half an hour later, stomachs growling. The mall was pretty full, seeing as it was dinner time. As Changbin lead the way, though, Jisung couldn’t help but spot someone vaguely familiar coming their way.

“Wait, is that, Chan hyung…?” Jisung asked, unsure. Changbin hummed, looking at Jisung and then looking at where he was looking, spotting exactly who he was talking about. And it seemed like the person spotted them, too, because he visibly shot up a little.

“Yeah,” Changbin replied, and then he saw the person who was holding his hand. “And Felix.”

_Felix?_

“Changbin! Jisung!” Chan greeted once the two pairs were close enough, stopping himself and Felix to chat with them. “You two done with the edits?”

“Yeah, we are, it was pretty easy.” Changbin answered for them. “We’re just heading to get dinner at that pizza place you recommended to me a few weeks ago.”

“That’s great, good job you two.” Chan smiled.

Jisung was silent throughout the exchange thus far, opting to really look at Chan and Felix’s appearance.

Chan looked the best dressed Jisung had ever seen him, and it’s not even like Chan usually dressed badly. He was used to seeing Chan in oversized hoodies and sweatshirts, or simple t-shirts or muscle tees on hotter days. Chan was known to dress comfortably. But the Chan in front of him was wearing a black dress shirt tucked into black pants, its sleeves rolled up to just above his elbows, a hoop with a chain hooked on his belt hoop. His shirt wasn’t buttoned all the way, showcasing the short necklace with a key-shaped pendant around his neck, something that Jisung had seen Chan wear almost every time he saw him.

Beside him, Felix was well dressed too, with a black turtleneck tucked into black pants, and an oversized white cardigan thrown on top of it. His orange hair styled into a side part as opposed to the middle that he usually sported. He also wore a slightly long necklace with a padlock-shaped pendant, placed on top of the turtleneck. His necklace was familiar to Jisung, too. Felix always kept it on his bedside table, and on the days where their classes started around the same time, he always saw Felix put it on before he left the room. He just didn’t often see it on Felix’s person because it was always hid under his shirt.

“What are you two doing here?” Jisung asked, finally snapping out of his daze. “I thought you said you had something important to do today?” Jisung turned to Chan. _Were they actually cheating?_

Felix gasped and mocked offense. “How dare you,” Felix put a hand against his chest, as if scandalised. “How dare you imply that I’m not important.” Felix accused, letting his mouth hand open slightly in ‘disbelief’. Chan only laughed at how dramatic he was being.

Jisung only got more confused, and that was when he finally realised that Chan and Felix were holding hands, fingers entwined. The cogs were finally starting to turn slowly in his head.

“Our anniversary is _very_ important, mind you.” Felix said, seeing that Jisung was finally catching up.

“‘ _Our’_ anniversary...?” Jisung asked, cogs speeding up.

_If they weren’t cheating, then that means-_

“Yeah,” It was Chan who replied this time, “We’re on our way to celebrate our anniversary.” He smiled, bringing up their intertwined hands. Jisung only stayed silent, taking it all in.

“Anyway, we’ve got to go, if not we’ll be late to our reservation.” Chan said, starting to pull Felix along the direction they had initially been walking towards.

“I’ll tell you everything later, Jisung,” Felix said, “Bye Jisung, Changbin hyung!” Felix bid, using his free hand to wave at them.

“Bye! Have fun on your anniversary date!” Changbin called as he waved back.

 _They weren’t cheating. They were_ definitely _not cheating. They’re dating each other, Jisung, you’re an idiot for not-_

_Wait._

_Changbin hyung knows?_

“Wait, you knew?” Jisung turned to Changbin. “You knew that they were _dating_?”

“Yeah of course, I live with the guy, why wouldn’t I know?” Changbin nodded as he asked back, raising an eyebrow in question but a teasing smirk was making its way onto his lips. “Minho hyung knows, too.” He added.

_Everything makes perfect sense now._

“Since when?” Jisung questioned.

“Pretty much our whole friendship?” Changbin replied as he started walking again, Jisung following closely behind him. “I’ve always known that Chan hyung wasn’t single, I worked with him for the joint project last year and happened to see his phone lock screen by chance so I asked who the other person in the picture was, and he told me it was his boyfriend.” Changbin shrugged. “But I didn’t meet Felix in person properly until like, a month before school started. I did see him on campus maybe like two times, though. With Chan hyung.”

“How did you two meet?” Jisung asked.

“Properly? I walked in on them cuddling at home.” Changbin replied simply, before he chuckled. “It was kinda funny, actually. I kinda short-circuited when I saw them. I couldn’t properly make out Felix’s face, so I thought Chan hyung might have been cheating. He woke up after that, though, so we got ‘properly’ introduced to each other right away.” Changbin recounted. Jisung wanted to laugh. He and Changbin were so alike in this aspect.

“Cheating? Chan hyung isn’t the type of person to do that.” Jisung defended, recalling all of the times Felix had spoken so well about the junior as his eyes sparkled. And also gloating in the fact that he successfully deduced that they _weren’t_ cheating.

Suddenly, a thought entered his head, still a little doubtful.

“… He _isn’t_ the type to do that, right?” Jisung questioned. Changbin immediately and vehemently shook his head.

“Hell no!” Changbin exclaimed. “Chan hyung would _never_. He’s just not that type of person. He values close relationships more than anything.” Changbin explained. “Besides, Chan hyung talks about Felix as if Felix himself hung up all the stars in the night sky. Didn’t you hear how he described him that time?” Changbin asked, shaking his head. “There’s no way he would even _think_ of cheating on Felix. He rejects everyone who tries no matter what, even if he’s drunk out of his mind. I should know, I’ve seen it happen before.” Changbin added, vouching for this friend. All Jisung could do was let out a small “ah…” in acknowledgement.

“Have you seen them be gross with each other? I need ammunition against Felix. He already has too much against me.” Jisung suddenly asked, mischief glinting in his eyes.

Changbin couldn’t help but laugh.

Chan and Felix walked towards the fencing of the deck, hand in hand, a padlock and key in Chan’s free hand.

They were at Namsan Tower, having just finished a wonderful dinner at one of the restaurants situated at the higher floors of the iconic tower. And now, they were making their way to attach a padlock on the fence that held thousands of others.

Admittedly, attaching a ‘love padlock’ was a little naive and childish, it was just a gimmick and served as a nice tourist attraction. When they had first gotten together, though, back in high school, Chan had taken Felix here to attach their first padlock, always the sentimental one. And Felix honestly loved it. They were both young and naive, and the thought of partaking in an act that signified eternal love enticed them and filled them with such innocent hope.

They were older now, and Chan and Felix knew that it didn’t have any effect on their relationship. Their relationship wasn’t maintained by something as fickle as a fable.

But then they found themselves coming back the next year. And the year after that. And now. To Chan and Felix, attaching a padlock grew into something that was meaningful to them, no matter how silly it was. To them, it signified a promise.

The couple stopped before a familiar strip of the fence, it was where they had attached their three previous padlocks. Chan wrote on the small padlock, scribbling a simple ‘Chan ♡ Felix’ and then followed by the year onto it, and then they both bent a little and locked it onto the fence, both smiling at the familiar action. Once they stood upright again, Felix chucked the key into the foliage in front them, before turning to Chan and wrapping his arms around his boyfriend’s shoulders and resting his chin on Chan's shoulder. His smile only became wider as he felt Chan’s arms wrap around his waist tightly, bringing their bodies flush against each other as they swayed gently.

There weren’t many people around, thankfully it was a weekday. They could be as mushy as they want without feeling too exposed after.

“Happy third anniversary, bubby. Thank you for giving me three wonderful years, and counting.” Felix sighed.

“Happy anniversary, my pixie. To more to come.” Chan said, squeezing Felix once more before he retracted himself, bringing him face to face with Felix. Felix, who looked so beautiful in the reflection of the city lights and moonlight. Chan couldn’t resist leaning in and kissing Felix deeply, who gave as much back.

“You make me so happy, my love.” Felix breathed against Chan’s lips once they separated, foreheads resting against each other. He then leaned forward again and rubbed their noses together. Chan savoured the soft gesture.

“And you, me,” Chan replied, pecking Felix’s lips. Felix smiled, before he leaned forward and pecked Chan too. “I have one more gift for you,” Chan, unwrapping one of his arms from Felix as he reached into his pocket.

“Another one? You spoil me, my love.” Felix said, smiling as he watched Chan take his wallet out.

“You’re worth it.” Chan smiled, opening his wallet. Felix watched in curiosity as Chan opened the coin compartment of his wallet. Chan never had coins on him. His eyes only widened as Chan took out two identical silver bands, both had crystals running all around it. Felix gasped.

“They weren’t expensive, don’t worry,” Chan reassured quickly, chuckling as he looked up to meet Felix’s eyes, knowing too well that his boyfriend would fret about having too much money spent on him. Chan wasn’t lying, but he wasn’t exactly telling the truth either. Buying and engraving the rings didn’t burn a hole in his bank account, but he wouldn’t easily and happily spend this amount of money in one go on anything else other than Felix or food.

“They’re not engagement rings either, we’re not at that point of our lives yet; we still have lots of personal growing and developing left to do.” Chan added. “But they are promise rings, and my promise to you, my pixie, is that I will stay by your side for as long as forever, as long as you’ll let me.” Chan promised, and he saw a single tear fall out of Felix’s eye, with more threatening to follow.

“Oh baby, don’t cry.” Chan cooed as he wiped the stray away, feeling his own tears pool and threaten to fall.

“I’m just so _happy_ ,” Felix sobbed, “And feel so, _so_ loved.”

“I promise you, my love, that I will stay by your side for as long as forever.” Felix breathed out, repeating and answering Chan's promise. Chan couldn’t help his own tears from flowing as he took one of the rings and slid it onto Felix’s left middle finger. Felix took the other ring and did the same to Chan. They were a perfect fit.

Chan took Felix’s hand and kissed the ring, heart bursting with love and joy, and then he kissed Felix’s bare ring finger. “Reserve this for me, sunshine. I promise I’ll fill it when the time is right.” Chan mumbled against Felix’s hand, his eyes looking up at Felix’s still tear-filled ones.

“I’ll be waiting patiently, my love.” Felix said, taking hold of Chan’s face and tilting it up, pressing a soft kiss on Chan’s lips.

As they separated, they laughed joyously, wiping each other’s tears away.

They were older now; they’ve gone through the trials and tribulations present in every relationship. They’ve had arguments and fights. They’ve said things they didn’t really mean that the heat of moment had pushed them to say. And they knew there would be more to come. But they knew, _oh did they know_ , that they would pass all of them and always come out stronger.

A perfect relationship wasn’t one without any fights, a perfect relationship is one where, even if you two fought and hurt each other, the two of you would always be willing to go back to each other and fix the damaged threads.

Felix didn’t return to his shared dorm room that night, only returning the next morning to Jisung ‘glaring’ at him, arms crossed at his chest.

“… Yes?” Felix asked after the two just stared at each other for a minute.

“How _dare_ you not tell me that ‘Chris’ is Chan hyung!” Jisung exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at Felix, who just laughed. “You really let me ask him if he knew how your boyfriend was like!” Jisung added, and Felix couldn’t help but laugh harder.

“I’m sorry,” Felix apologised, wiping away the tears that formed in his eyes because he laughed too hard, “But it really is fun to see people try and find out when it’s been right under their nose all along.”

“No wonder Changbin hyung keeps calling you a devil,” Jisung grumbled, before his eyes strayed down to Felix’s left hand, seeing a ring on his finger that definitely wasn’t there before. “Is that a ring?” Jisung gasped, straightening up and rushing up to Felix, taking his hand and bringing up to eye level to inspect the ring. Jisung’s jaw dropped and his eyes sparkled.

“Tell me _everything_.”

Felix laughed, divulging everything to his roommate.

It was finally showcase day.

Rehearsals had been a gruelling 6 weeks long, and by now almost everyone was just running on adrenaline. And probably chaos.

Because that’s what it felt like in the dressing room.

All the joint project teams shared one dressing room; meaning there were 15 people in the dressing room. And while the project teams weren’t slated to perform until around halfway through the showcase, after all the performances by the non-Arts students teams, there was still a sense of chaotic urgency, though a little muted. It was still pretty calm now, with most performers just milling about and chitchatting amongst themselves (mostly the upperclassmen), with some practicing their performances and checking themselves in the mirrors (mostly the freshmen), because no one actually started getting ready until about 30 minutes into the showcase. But the sheer amount of people made it seem chaotic and the nerves rolling off of people just added fuel to the urgent atmosphere. This was Chan’s third year performing for the showcase, which was how he got so lucky with such a good internship-turn-part-time job, so he knew sooner or later the chaos would get amped up as people rushed to get ready for their stage.

Which was also why he was already sat on the couch, using his phone, calm, and dressed for the stage even though his team’s performance wasn’t until later, as the second project team to perform. Minho and Changbin sat beside him, both pretty much ready, too, both of them also not being first-time performers for the showcase. All they had left to do was get their makeup done, and the makeup artists (student volunteers) were still attending to all the teams that went on before the project teams, so they were free to their own devices until then.

“Why are you three ready so early?” Hyunjin asked as he plopped down beside Minho on the couch, the three other freshmen following suit. Felix sat on Chan’s free side as Chan kept his phone in his pocket, immediately taking Chan’s hand in his once his boyfriend’s hands were free, wrapping his other hand around their clasped hands. Chan interlaced their fingers and the brought their hands up to his lips, kissing the back of Felix’s hand and also the ring that was resting prettily on his finger, before he placed them back down again.

“Trust us, you would want to get ready sooner rather than later.” Minho chuckled. “It’ll be a hell of a rush if you wait until everyone starts getting dressed, too.”

“Oh, really?” Hyunjin asked, before he turned to the other freshmen. “You think we should just get dressed now, too?”

“Yeah, I think we should.” Seungmin said, already standing up. The three others followed suit, taking their bags and heading to the toilets to change.

“I just want to say, you might want to be ready once Felix comes back.” Minho leaned over Changbin to ‘whisper’ to Chan, who only looked at him quizzically.

“And why should I?” Chan asked slowly, looking at Minho. He was dressed pretty plainly; a black velvet long-sleeved button up tucked into black pants at the front. He doesn’t think the other two would dress too drastically different

Minho smirked, eyes glinting mischievously. “You’ll see.” Minho said ominously, leaning back into the couch again, leaving Chan with many questions in his head.

After a few minutes, though, the four freshmen came back into the room, and Chan was just stunned.

Chan has seen Felix shirtless before, so this really shouldn’t be affecting him so much, but there was just something unholy about seeing his boyfriend in a black, almost completely see-through shirt. The only reason why it wasn’t completely see-through was the opaque black patterns embroidered onto parts of the shirt. Chan just let his jaw drop at the sight.

“Chan, watch out there buddy, you might pop a blood vessel.” Minho teased as the freshmen approached them again. Felix stopped in front of Chan, smiling down at him mischievously.

“Like what you see?” Felix smirked. Chan stared for a second longer before he closed him own mouth and stood up, taking off his jacket as he did so.

“Yeah, I can’t have you milling about in that,” Chan said as he put his jacket over Felix’s shoulders, “Not good for my sanity.” Chan continued, making Felix laugh. “You look absolutely gorgeous, though, just give me a head’s up of at least 3 business days next time if you wanna wear anything like this again so that I can get my heart ready.” Chan complimented, making Felix blush.

“Such a sweet talker,” Felix said as he placed his hands on Chan’s chest and gently pushed, making him sit back down as Felix took a seat beside Chan again, this time snuggling into Chan’s side, wrapping his arms loosely around Chans middle, and swinging his legs onto Chan’s lap. Chan smiled as he placed a gentle hand on one of Felix’s legs, giving it a light squeeze.

“Always for you.” Chan replied, adoration dripping off of his words.

“Will you two stop being so gross, there are other people around.” Changbin complained from right beside Chan. Felix shot his foot up, aiming to kick Changbin in the face. Changbin let out a yelp as he avoided the foot coming right at his face. Everyone seemed to enjoy Changbin’s suffering, because they all just laughed at him.

“You would have deserved that.” Seungmin jabbed, snickering.

“Honestly, when will you learn to stop calling them ‘gross’?” Minho asked, shaking his head.

“I learnt it all from you!” Changbin spluttered, “You’re exactly the same, hyung.” Changbin narrowed his eyes at Minho.

Minho shook his head and waved his hand in front of his face dismissively. “I call them gross when I know I’m _not_ in hitting or kicking distance of Felix, we are _not_ the same.”

At that, everyone just laughed harder, calming the nerves that settled at the bottom of the freshmen’s stomachs.

The nerves came back pretty quickly, though, because sooner than they expected, it was their time to perform. Felix and Hyunjin fidgeted in their seats in the green room. Chan, Changbin, and Jisung’s group (affectionately named 3racha) just left to go on stage, and the dancers’ stage was right after 3racha’s stage.

“You two nervous?” Minho asked them, undoubtedly the most relaxed out of the three. The two freshmen nodded. “Don’t think about it too much, the more you think the more nervous you’ll get.” Minho advised. “Once you’re on the stage, the lights will shine so brightly in your eyes you won’t even realise people are watching you.”

At that, Hyunjin and Felix scoffed. Minho smiled, glad that his attempt to make them loosen up even the slightest bit succeeded.

“Once you’re up there, just focus on dancing. Those 3 minutes will honestly feel like 3 seconds once it’s all over.” Minho said, then put a hand each on Hyunjin and Felix’s shoulders. “You two will be fine, you’ve worked hard and meticulously.” Minho smiled, calming the two freshmen. “Now, just watch 3racha’s performance so we can make fun of every small detail later.” Minho said, taking his hands off of Felix and Hyunjin, who laughed as they turned their attention to the small TV in the green room.

Felix’s heart lurched in his chest as he watched Chan perform. His boyfriend was no doubt already charismatic, but he was even more so on stage. Felix has seen him performing on stage a few times before, but he never failed to swoon with every performance he saw.

Felix thinks that the fact that his ring was on full display was a very strong factor on why he was so enthralled. Thank god Chan tended to hold his mic in his left hand.

Soon, a little too soon if you were to ask Felix, their team was called for standby on backstage. Felix almost swore that his heart was at his throat as they stood backstage, waiting for 3racha’s stage to finish. It did finish soon though, and the cheers were deafening as the three music production majors bounded into backstage.

“Good job out there!” Felix vaguely heard Minho congratulate the three, his heart pounding in his chest too hard and the cheers too loud to let him hear properly. But then, he felt a gentle hand on his cheek and he saw Chan’s face in front of him. Chan leaned forward and kissed his nose bridge delicately, making Felix’s heart flutter.

Chan smiled softly at him. “You’ll do great, my little Pixie.” Felix could make out Chan saying, the man’s aura alone enough to sooth Felix. “You’ll be fine.” Felix heard Chan utter as the three dancers were ushered onto the stage. Felix kept his eyes on Chan’s smiling face for as long as he could, for encouragement. Then, when he was in place, he tore his eyes away from Chan and took a deep breath.

He was ready.

3racha had quickly made their way to the dressing room, and Chan immediately turned all of his attention to the TV hung at the corner of the room once they were there, tuning everything and everyone out. Chan had seen their performance many times, of course he has. They all went through the 6 weeks of rehearsals; he’s seen them perform it countless of times by now. But there was just something about watching them perform it on stage that just mesmerised Chan.

Maybe it the way that they were dressed, Chan has seen Felix in that damned shirt for maybe an hour straight now but it still does something to his head. Or maybe, it was how professional they all looked, how passionate, how charismatic, their sheer _stage presence_. They all seemed like different people.

But, Chan thinks, the most mesmerising thing about them on stage was the stage lights and it’s effect on them. Because every time the bright stage light was focused on Felix, the ring on his finger glinted prettily, and it filled Chan’s heart with absolute adoration and _pride_.

And then, it was Felix’s mini solo. Chan was already mesmerised throughout the whole performance, that was already properly established. But then Felix did something Chan wasn’t expecting. Felix lifted his shirt up as he body rolled, flashing his abs.

Chan has definitely seen Felix shirtless before. Nothing in him really stirs anymore when he simply just _sees_ Felix’s bare body. It’s just a body. It’s human.

But something about that was _just unholy_.

Chan was honestly too shellshocked to even move, his jaw just dropping.

“Did he just?” He had heard Changbin ask incredulously.

“He did!” Jisung exclaimed.

And then Chan felt himself being jostled. “Hellooo? Earth to Chan hyung?” Changbin asked, shaking him by the shoulders. “Hyung, are you still breathing?” Changbin teased, smirking.

“He just- Why- I can’t believe he-” Chan said in quick breaths, face red. Changbin laughed at him.

“I’m almost 90% that was Minho hyung’s doing.” Changbin laughed.

“No, I think that was all Felix’s doing,” Jisung rebutted. “He can be saucy if he puts his mind to it.”

“Can we not talk about Felix right now I need time to recover from _that_.” Chan almost pleaded, putting his head in his hands as his juniors laughed at his suffering, continuing to tease him.

Soon enough though, their performance ended, and they were all a sweating mess as they made it down the stage, but they were _ecstatic_ sweating messes.

“I told you guys you would be fine!” Minho exclaimed as they made it back to the dressing room, hooking his arms around both Hyunjin and Felix’s necks, making them laugh.

“You did great too, hyung!” Hyunjin complimented, smiling at Minho.

“Of course I did, I’ve been doing this for too long to not be great.” Minho replied teasingly, removing his hands from them. Felix rolled his eyes at Minho’s faux arrogance.

“But, really though, hyung,” Felix said, and Minho turned to him, “Thank you for working with us.” Felix thanked.

“Yeah, thanks so much, Minho hyung.” Hyunjin added. Minho made a face at them.

“Don’t sound so thankful, I only did it because you two looked like lost kicked sheep when you asked me.” Minho joked. “But you two are _my_ kids now, don’t you forget that.”

Hyunjin and Felix rolled their eyes at him.

“Oh, wait, I need to take a piss,” Hyunjin said as they passed by a toilet, “You guys go on ahead to the dressing room.” Hyunjin said, already making his way to the toilet. Minho and Felix nodded at him.

“Do you think Channie hyung liked the performance?” Felix asked Minho now that they were alone.

“After that stunt you pulled? Oh, _definitely_.” Minho replied, teasing. Felix blushed a pretty pink that was visible even through his makeup.

“It was a heat of the moment thing, I didn’t actually plan on doing it.” Felix fought, slightly embarrassed. Minho only laughed as he opened the door to the dressing room. They were met with the courteous cheers from the two teams that were already in the dressing room, and the two slightly bowed at them in thanks. Felix looked around the room, looking for Chan, seeing his boyfriend standing near the back of the room, his smile bright. Once they locked eyes, Chan opened his arms slightly.

“Channie hyung,” Felix called, smile bright, bounding right into Chan’s waiting arms and wrapping his arms around Chan’s shoulders as he rested his chin on Chan’s shoulder.

“Did you enjoy the performance, hyung?” Felix asked, still not letting go of the hug. He felt and heard Chan hum, before he felt a kiss be pressed right behind his ear, making him squirm and squeal at the unexpected tickling sensation, retracting himself from Chan immediately and pressing a hand to where Chan had kissed him. Chan still kept his arms wrapped loosely around Felix waist, laughing at him.

“I loved it, Pixie.” Chan said, bringing Felix in again and rubbing their noses together. Felix swelled with pride.

“That’s good, I wanted to make you proud, because it’s your composition.” Felix replied, resting their foreheads against each other.

“You always make me proud.” Chan smiled, and Felix’s heart burst with happiness.

“I love you, bubby.” Felix said as he placed a peck on Chan’s lips.

“I love you too.” Chan returned, giving Felix a proper kiss.

“There’s literally other people in here, can you two not.” Jisung complained, and just like that Chan and Felix were snapped out of their bubble, separating from each other.

“Yeah, if you two weren’t so focused on each other, you would have noticed Hyunjin walking into the room.” Changbin said, gesturing to where Hyunjin was stood at the door, thanking everyone for the applause that they gave him when he walked in.

“Whatever, it’s about time he found out anyways.” Felix brushed off, going in and hugging Chan again. Chan laughed, squeezing his waist lightly and dropping a light kiss on the side of his head.

“Great job out there, Hyunjin.” Chan congratulated when Hyunjin was close enough to them. It was then that Felix decided to retract himself from Chan and instead stood by his head, but taking one of Chan’s hands in his.

“Thank you, hyung.” Hyunjin smiled. “And also thank you for writing our song for us.”

“Oh, don’t mention it,” Chan shook his head, smile on his lips. “It’s just a simple gift, I had the melody stuck in my head for months, anyway.”

It looked like Hyunjin was going to say something, but Jisung suddenly called out.

“Hey, Seungmin’s team is on!”

Everyone’s turned their attention to the TV, including Hyunjin’s, watching Seungmin’s performance.

While watching, Felix squeezed Chan’s hand gently and brought their joint hands up to his lips, kissing the ring wrapped around Chan’s finger. A silent thanks.

Felix let their hands fall back down, resting his head on Chan’s shoulder, smile only becoming wider when he felt Chan kiss the top of his head. He couldn’t help but think how lucky he was to be loved by someone like Chan.

“Ah, I see my favourite group of rascals are here again.” Jihyo said good-naturedly when she saw the group of seven enter the diner, smiling. She was met with smiles and greetings.

The new semester had just begun, and the showcase was last week. All the performers were treated to dinner after the showcase, so they didn’t have the chance to celebrate within themselves then. They took this chance to celebrate before they all got busy with midterms submissions and exams again.

Jihyo took three menus from where they were kept and lead the group to a big round table, and everyone quickly settled down. She set the menus down, and some of them looked at it for a second, before they closed it and put them down again.

“Just the usual again, I assume?” Jihyo asked, and she was met with a chorus of ‘yeah’s. Jihyo rolled her eyes, writing rapidly on her notepad.

“Honestly, I don’t know why I keep giving you guys menus. You guys never change your orders.” Jihyo rolled her eyes, teasing smile on her lips. She and the boys exchanged small conversation before she was off again, giving their order to the cooks. The group of seven started conversing between themselves.

Hyunjin had been chatting with Jisung when he saw movement in his peripherals. It was slight, but it felt like it was calling out to him. Jisung continued going on about how he was suddenly really curious about dinosaurs, like _really_ curious suddenly and it was driving him a little insane honestly, and Hyunjin turned his head to the left slightly, his gaze landing on Chan and Felix.

Felix had moved his chair a little closer to Chan’s, that was the movement Hyunjin has noticed. Chan was showing something to Felix on his phone, smiles on both their faces. It must have been some sort of funny video, because Felix laughed quietly a second later. Hyunjin smiled at the sight. They really did make a cute pair.

_Too bad they were both dating someone else._

Hyunjin was about to turn his attention back to Jisung when suddenly, out of nowhere, Chan leaned over to Felix and kissed him on the lips. Hyunjin’s smile dropped, eyes widening, and then he shrieked. His chair scraped against the floor as he shot up, surprising everyone at the table. Felix even jumped in his chair slightly, Chan’s head shot up to look at him. Everyone looked at him.

“Why are you screaming, are you insane?” Jisung hissed from beside him as he dragged Hyunjin back down, the others apologising to everyone else in the diner and reassuring the staff that the commotion was nothing serious.

“But they just-!” Hyunjin exclaimed, pointing at the couple. “Did no one see them kiss?!” Hyunjin exclaimed, slightly freaking out.

“Uh, why would it be weird that we kissed? We’re literally dating?” Felix asked, confused. Hyunjin furrowed his eyebrows.

“Dating? Felix, don’t you have a-” Hyunjin stopped himself mid-sentence. “Channie hyung is your boyfriend?” Hyunjin asked, and both Chan and Felix nodded their heads, obvious confusion on their faces.

“How long have you two been- Since when- Huh?” Hyunjin asked, thoroughly confused.

“We’ve been dating ever since high school?” Chan replied, equally confused. “Hyunjin, you knew that.”

“Hyunjin, why are you so confused?” Felix asked, “I’ve literally told you that I’ve had a boyfriend ever since I was a first year in _high school_. You’ve even seen a chat between me and Channie hyung before. _We have matching rings._ ” Felix said, sounding slightly exasperated.

“But the contact name was Chris?” Hyunjin asked dumbly.

“Yeah, that’s because his name is Chris. It’s his English name.” Felix explained. “Did you not know that?” Felix asked, and Hyunjin shook his head. “Didn’t you even walk in on us kissing in the dressing room during the showcase?” Felix asked, and Hyunjin stayed in stunned silence for a few beats.

“You two _kissed_ at the dressing room?” Hyunjin shrieked again, and Jisung slapped his hand on his mouth.

“Stop being so loud, we’re going to get kicked out!” Jisung hissed, and Hyunjin pried Jisung’s hand off of him.

“Weren’t you two just hugging?” Hyunjin asked.

“I mean, yeah we were, but we kissed, too.” Chan replied plainly.

“Chan hyung is the long-time boyfriend?” Hyunjin gasped, realisation finally settling in. Both Chan and Felix nodded. “All this while, every time you talked about ‘Chris’, you were actually talking about Chan hyung?” Hyunjin asked, and Felix nodded again.

“Wait, why am I the only one freaking out?” Hyunjin asked the rest of the table, realising the great lack of reaction. He gasped. “Did everyone on this table already know?” Hyunjin shrieked, only to be met with a chorus of ‘yeah’s. “Even you, Jisung?” Hyunjin turned to Jisung this time, who nodded in affirmation.

“I found out before the showcase.” Jisung replied plainly, and Hyunjin’s eyes widened in betrayal.

“And no one thought to tell me _anything_?” Hyunjin gasped, making everyone laugh.

“Hyunjin, I hate to break it to you, but I dropped all the hints that I could without just outright saying it, so it really is all on you.” Felix snickered.

“They were never secretive about their relationship.” Minho said, raising an eyebrow. Changbin nodded.

“They’re always holding hands and are always so touchy with each other, I’m surprised you guys didn’t find out on day 1.” Changbin question. Felix flushed.

“Hey stop poking fun at my baby, he’s just an affectionate person. You all know that.” Chan said in response, wrapping his arm around Felix and bringing him in close. The position was a little awkward because they were sitting on chairs, but Felix still instinctively huddled closer anyway.

“I just… honestly thought that they were just really good friends.” Hyunjin replied, burning up. Everyone at the table laughed. “Hey, don’t make fun of me, Felix literally only told me that they knew each other for a long time when I asked him at orientation. He never mentioned anything about them _dating!_ ” Hyunjin fought back, only making everyone laugh harder.

“And I thought _Jisung_ was the oblivious one.” Seungmin said in between laughs, Jisung crying out a petulant ‘hey!’

“I literally thought you already knew after you walked in on us kissing at the showcase and just never made it a point to not say anything. Turns out you just didn’t know.” Felix laughed, and Hyunjin only turned redder.

“I didn’t see you two kiss!” Hyunjin fought, “When I entered the dressing room again after our performance, it was a mess. I didn’t even _see_ you two until I actually walked over to you guys.” Hyunjin explained.

He really had no idea, honest. He never thought to make the connection between _Chan hyung_ and _Chris_. He never asked either because Felix seemed happy, so why ask more any more questions?

“I think you two should really make an official announcement, or something. Way too many people just can’t get it that you two are dating.” Minho said, once he calmed down.

“It’s like the worst kept secret on campus and yet people _still_ don’t get it.” Changbin scoffed, making everyone laugh again.

“You know what, I really think I should.” Chan said, picking up his phone again from where he lay it on the table, immediately opening Instagram. Everyone just stared in confusion, and anticipation, as Chan typed something. After a minute, Chan set his phone on the table, screen up, and he relaxed against his chair. Everyone saw Instagram open, with the little uploading progress bar on top. It only took a second before whatever he was uploading finished, the new post appearing at the top of Chan’s feed.

Everyone saw what it was, and immediately everyone got excited. Beside his phone, Felix’s phone screen lit up with a notification that read ‘CB97 tagged you in a photo’. Chan simply smiled, a little bashful but mostly looking proud.

“Chris!” Felix whined, shy, lightly hitting Chan’s shoulder. A pretty blush spread across his freckled face, but he undoubtedly looked happy. Felix hid his red face behind his hands and leaned into Chan’s shoulder. He was happy, unbelievably so, but he was also very shy. Chan only smiled wider, running a soothing hand up and down Felix’s back.

Minho snatched the phone from where he was directly sat across Chan on the round table, and everyone following it and huddling around Minho. Everyone started cheering semi-quietly, everything looked like a barely controlled chaos.

“Why are you guys so noisy, stop disturbing the other diners!” Jihyo approached them, shushing them.

“Noona, look at this!” Minho exclaimed as he turned Chan’s phone towards Jihyo. Jihyo squinted at the sudden screen shoved in her face, before she saw what was on the screen. Jihyo’s face erupted into a wide, kind smile.

On the screen was Chan’s most recent post, a picture of Felix and Chan. It wasn’t too much of a gross display of affection. In the picture, Chan was dressed in a plain white oversized shirt and black jeans, his arm wrapped tightly around Felix’s shoulder and bringing him close, kissing the crown of the freckled boy’s head. Felix was wearing a very oversized black hoodie, the same hoodie that Chan had been seen in numerous times, with the hood up and covering half his head. Felix’s hands, made to look smaller with how much of it was covered by the long sleeves of the hoodie, covered the lower half of his face but it was very obvious that he was smiling widely under it. Both of their faces were slightly obscured, but it was also very obviously them. The pictured seemed to scream that they were happily in love.

“It took you long enough.” Jihyo smiled at Chan. “Honestly, I was getting tired of girls always approaching me and asking if I could set them up with you. Hopefully, this stops all of them.” Jihyo smiled. “But you guys still need to quiet down before I throw you guys out myself.” Jihyo threatened, but still she walked away with a smile on her face. The group of seven did, in fact, quiet down, but they were still going crazy over Chan’s post. Chan’s phone was dinging like crazy with notifications too, all from that post.

Minho returned the phone to its owner, the whole congratulating the couple and just in general causing quiet chaos. Chan’s smile never left his face, and he knew Felix was smiling giddily too, he was just hiding himself.

**CB97** so i’ve been told that literally no one believed i was taken? c’mon now, i’ve been telling everyone ever since i was a freshman. so, here everyone has it. this is felix, and i have loved him since i was 18. so, everyone, please stop doubting us.

 **_flreckles_ ** _ily too bubby_ _💛_

 **_hanj.one_ ** _ew it reeks of love in here_ _🤢_

 **_spear.b_ ** _great now can everyone please stop dm-ing me asking me to set you up with chan thanks_

 **_lino_ ** _here we have it folks, the campus heartthrob is (and has been) officially off the market_

**Author's Note:**

> that "i have loved him since i was 18" is a meme reference btw ksksksks ever since i saw that jyp one i haven't stopped laughing everytime i hear that song
> 
> glad that That's finally over with bc MAN WAS THIS A LONG PIECE OF WORK. i tend to try and avoid writing one shots that are longer than what 7k words anything above that and i try to chop it up bc i don't want to overload myself and everyone else, but with this it just makes the most sense keeping it as long as it is.
> 
> this series is not over just yet, i've mostly completed writing how minho (just a head's up this one's going to be less chanlix fluff and more on serious discussions) and changbin (this one's a fluffy one again) met felix, so that's two more separate instalments in this series, and i do plan on at least introducing jeongin into this au bc i just feel weird excluding only him but my brain's broke rn bc of this one so that jeongin one might take some time before i even start writing it
> 
> i do hope that you guys enjoyed this big mf (that really was just an excuse for me to shove as much chanlix fluff as possible into one story) nevertheless, and i'll see you in the next one!
> 
> i never proofread any of my work bc i get shy reading my own work sometimes so do excuse all and any mistakes hehe
> 
> feel free to hmu in the comments or twitter [@5ataen](https://twitter.com/5ataen) if u have questions or just simply wanna vibe ahah


End file.
